Acting through song and dance - Eleaner Mae Alderson

Throughout this blog an extensive description about acting through song and dance will be given. Acting through song and dance is storytelling and having the understanding of the story behind the lyrics, or finding a movement to fit the lyrics. Communicating to the audience sincerely and with impact, meaning to implement a narrative and help give context to lyrics. Using personal experience and knowledge from research to give an understanding of this throughout, whilst also speaking about the rehearsal period and what helped get the chosen pieces to the final stage.   

Thankyou enjoy 👍😁

Acting through song🎤

When it came to songs to choose the more lyrical, slow and meaningful songs always seem to be a personal favorite as they offer more opportunity for expression and often have more singing techniques to utilize. One song that stood out when researching was the song 'With you' from the musical 'Ghost'. A "timeless fantasy about the power of love" (the dance movement. 2017). This song highlights the characters Sam and Molly who are happily married and living together in Brooklyn. One night the couple get held at gun point and Sam is murdered. He becomes trapped between this world and the next as a ghost and is unable to leave Molly. The musical shows true grit and what it would feel like to have someone took from you right in front of your eyes, "intelligent treatment and considered direction eschew sentimentality and much of the show has an underlying grittiness that gives it considerably authenticity, making it surprisingly enthralling" (Peter Brown 2016) This is the literal meaning however, from a personal view having not been through that specific scenario, some connection can be given when it comes to loosing people suddenly and the feeling of your heart being pulled from your chest for example, being in a relationship and loving the person so much and it just ending out of nowhere, this also goes for loosing family members and that overflow of dread and sickness in your stomach. The song 'With you' is a song Molly sings after loosing Sam. The song really does pull at the heart strings and holds all of the emotion one would have, if going through something like this. Picking this song allowed for emotion, grit and plenty of room to make it more personal. Research was also put in place to have a closer look into other peoples experiences with loosing people due to shootings etc. For example, the murder of Juandre Kidson who was shot dead in front of his wife and baby, stopping to replace a punctured tire when traveling from brits, "three men armed with fire arms overpowered the victim and caught him in the head", (Corné van Zyl, 2022) His wife Johannete was shot in the shoulder and luckily survived however, the victims brother said (Marco Kidson, 2022) "as a family, they were devastated by the incident". Johannete is "completely broken" and rightly so. A lot of research was done however, this story did stand out because of how cruel it was. They were just stopping off to change a tire like everyone has to do at some point in their life but the fact the wife didn't know that day was going to be the last day she would see her husband alive really did pull at the heart strings. This shows a striking resemblance to the story of Molly and Sam by the obvious killing of the husband in front of their eyes. this piece of research helps to  Below shows pictures of the lyrics, highlighting and annotated where different singing techniques should be applied, what some lyrics might mean which allows for a much clearer and understandable lay out when it comes to rehearsing it.  

This way of annotating allows for editing of the lyrics to suit an individual and break the meaning of the song down, whilst also making it easier to understand why and when to add different vocal techniques. Adding things like when the anger should build up and the realisation of what has actually happened. whilst also writing the literal meaning to things, as often in songs the words aren't written like a story so giving some easy sentences to describe what the lyrics mean at certain points is important. For example when it says "all this wishful thinking gets me nowhere", annotating these lyrics allowed for the true meaning to be explained (represents the fact she cant bring him back so it's worthless no matter how much she tries). 

Acting Through Dance💃

For the dance portion of this assessment gravitating naturally towards the more contemporary and lyrical side of dance styles often happens from a personally. Contemporary is a  type of dance that developed during the middle portion of the twentieth century and since has grown to become one of the more dominating performing genres, with particularly strong popularity in the U.S and Europe. (Wikipedia, 2015) Lyrical dancing is a fusion of ballet, jazz and contemporary styles of dance, beginning in the 1970s it is the "expression of the choreographer to music with lyrics that expresses a strong emotional interpretation of the chosen song" (Catherine Kolkoski, 2022).The chosen song was 'Control' by Zoe Wees due to connecting personally to this song. Zoe Wees is a German singer songwriter and wrote her song 'Control' about her battle with epilepsy. It represents "not only the story of the end of a long struggle, but also the beginning of leaving the past behind" (unknown, 2020). The song is dedicated to her old school teacher who helped each day with her struggle, helping through the darkest times of her epilepsy in and out of school. (unknown, 2020) The literal meaning behind these lyrics don't reflect personally but the basic meaning and reason however does. When listening to this song the very first thing that connected and stood out on a personal level were the lyrics, having suffered and still suffering with mental health issues and being in and out of therapy. My parents have always been my biggest support system and I genuinely don't think I would have made it through without them. Those lyrics "I wouldn't have made it if I didn't have you holding my hand" really brought some emotion out in me. The singer once stated (Zoe Wees, 2020) "the sickness was stronger than me, and left scars that have become part of my life. Accepting them has taken so much time, but they make me what I am today: a fighter". The song really represented this and connects to oneself. Below is the annotated lyrics, for a dance it is still extremely important to know what each word means and how the singer is singing it, in order for the correct emotion to be performed. Highlighting parts and then annotating the meaning and/or how it should be performed helped to give context to the lyrics. As often when listening to a song the beat and rhythm blur the lyrics and meaning behind them. 

Highlighting for example, "don't know if you get it cause I cant express how thankful I am, that you were always with me when it hurts, I know that you'll understand" this line here represents how frustrated she is getting because she can't physically explain how grateful she is for her teacher. Below shows a video of Zoe Wees actually verbally annotating her lyrics herself and explaining what the lyrics mean to her. 

(Zoe Wees, 2021)

Rehearsal Process- Dance💃 

The rehearsal process is the fun part😊 and one of the most important parts as it allows for things to be edited and especially when done in front of a mirror, can allow the performer to see what they like, want to change or exaggerate. Getting footage of the process also gives the performer an insight into what they may want to change etc. Perfecting steps, technical execution and memorising the choreography results in a much more polished and professional finish. 

Above shows a video of the second rehearsal of the dance, no recordings were made of the first rehearsal as it was just a lot of listening to the song over and over again and not really getting anywhere👍😆 but here shows the first part of the choreography. As shown, there were still parts that weren't choreographed, including finding a way of getting up from the floor and how to get into other pieces of choreography. Further on into the rehearsal process timing of parts were changed, for example the crawl back on the floor was lengthened to give the impression of trying to fight something but still being afraid of it, from personal experience of mental health you wake up and hope its going to be a good day but scared that it isn't. this also goes for therapy, its good to get therapy but scary to talk about thoughts and feelings. Though the choreography wasn't set in stone and some parts weren't certain it was a start.   

As shown above in the rehearsal half way through the process, a little more choreography was put together to link different moves and to pull the piece together, videos really help to improve things like the technique for example. Looking back at this footage then allowed for more progression and to pin point what needed to be added, exaggerated or even just changed. 

Rehearsal Process- Song 🎤

Rehearsing a song is much different to rehearsing a dance, songs include movement too, whilst also creating the characters feelings and working on the technique of the vocals. Rehearsing is principal, as it gives the singer time to try and test different vocal techniques on different parts of the song, whilst also giving them time to memorise the lyrics so that it comes second nature, before incorporating movement that looks natural and purposeful. 

Above shows the first rehearsal of the song, and the term rehearsal is used very loosely there as you can see its not much of a rehearsal and more of just a read through of the song😁. However, before doing anything this is very important as it allows for more understanding of the lyrics and so the singer knows if the backing track suits their voice etc. Through this recording it is unchallenging to see the lack of vocal technique, running out of breath at times, not being on key and not having any vocal sobs to create emotion. Of course this came with time and more rehearsing. As well as the movement and "acting through song".

The footage above shows a rehearsal which was watched by a singing tutor, this helped to receive feedback from an externals point of view. This rehearsal was used more so for the vocal technique and purely the singing rather than the acting through it, as becoming comfortable with the song as a whole and its high notes for example just allows a performer to fell more relaxed with what they are doing, so that when it comes to applying movement it is second nature and the singer then won't be thinking about the technique of their singing. Receiving feedback about controlling the vibrato, (a true vibrato is, as you describe, a fluctuation in pitch)(Straight dope, date unknown), allows for vibrato to be only added to create a build up of emotion. The tutor also reflects on the breathing, as having coordinated breathing when singing can hep reduce: flat tones, strained tones, uncontrolled vibrato, uneven sound and much more. Working from the stomach to the rib cage to the chest and then the shoulders, breathing in nice and deeply helps ensure your tank is full and as a result takes longer to empty. Also addressed in the footage is how on the word "You" in the chorus of the song isn't being sung as a straight note, and should be. The tutor highlighted that the word "You" should also be in head voice. After a couple of attempts you can identify how much more clearer that sounds. It is also brought to the forefront that having little breaths in between lines of the song that allow you to is important, as it stops you from releasing all of that breath from the tank and in fact refills it.

Above shows a black screen😂, a recording of the module leader giving feedback on the performance side of things and what lyric's needed to be exaggerated through acting, movements or facial expressions. She firstly picked up on the movement of the hands and how "pop" like they looked. The hands just needed to be a little more relaxed and only used to exaggerate the meaning of words etc.

After this I went onto adding movement to the song, in which helped give reason to the lyrics of the song and adding more emotion. movement helps with this because it gives the audience a feel of what is going on in the space in your mind even with no real set. Wearing a check shirt to exaggerate the line "i picked up your shirts this morning" using this as a prop almost and pulling at it or wrapping around oneself. whilst also using a notebook to show the writing of the letter, this is also used in the final performance to show the anger as the performer throws it to the floor.    

Final Review😊

To summaries, the process of this module was thoroughly enjoyed, it helped to develop further skills and how to show emotion through song and dance. The final piece was to a good standard and portrayed a good representation of acting through song and dance. 

song improvements and strengths: If this was to arise again more grit would have been added to the final performance, further emotion connected to each specific word or movement would have been enhanced. After looking at the footage of the performance, it is evident that there is so much emotion already been portrayed but to further push that and aim to go further would be the next step. the movement used in the final piece wasn't too much, it looked natural and there was different levels in there. Facial expressions were used to further heighten the emotions in each lyric and that really comes across on camera. Again if this was to happen again the aim would be to push this and make this even bigger, since this is a musical theatre piece it would need to be seen right at the back of the room. Again the research helped with this, as it gave ideas of what other performers did.     

Looking back at the performance footage of the dance it is evident that there is emotion there and a story in which is being told through movement and facial expressions. the choreography was at a high standard and the technique side of things could have been further looked into for example the back bend wasn't fully executed as the balance was off. If this was to occur again more focus on the technique and a break down of each individual piece of choreography would help push it even further. 

For future projects like auditions for example, this module will come in useful. Once given a song or choosing a song I can identify what each lyric means and take a closer look into the background behind it. These two pieces of performance can be used again too for future auditions etc. The overall experience gave insight into the more smaller things that make a performance what it is when seen on stage. It makes being a performer so special when you really highlight these things. Sticking to the module guide was a key factor in the final performance, yes more emotion could have been added with more rehearsals etc. however, the final performance highlights the module aim. Research, was put in place to give understanding of the chosen songs and really did help with the process. The research undertook allowed the final pieces to be real and raw whilst also finding out the real meaning behind the songs allowing oneself to then add personal meaning. Overall, it was a strong effort and a narrative was implemented. 

Thank you for taking your time to read!✌😁    

 

Bibliography

the dance movement, 2017. What is contemporary dance?  [online] Available at: http://www.thedancemovement.co.uk/blog/what-is-contemporary-dance [Accessed 5 January 2023]

Catherine's dance studio, 2016, what is lyrical dance?. [Online] Available at: https://catherinesdancestudiokc.com/what-is-lyrical-dance/ [Accessed 5 January 2023]

Genius, 2020, Control. [Online] Available at: https://genius.com/Zoe-wees-control-lyrics#:~:text=For%20Zoe%2C%20%E2%80%9C%20Control%20%E2%80%9D%20is%20not%20only,her%20epilepsy%20in%20the%20classroom%2C%20and%20the%20hospital. [Accessed 5 January 2023] 

Genius, 2021, Zoe Wees "control" Official lyrics & meaning | verified, Available at: https://youtu.be/18D8kOjhHfE [Accessed 5 January 2023] 

StageAgent, 2020, Ghost the musical. [Online] Available at: https://stageagent.com/shows/musical/515/ghost-the-musical#:~:text=Ghost%20the%20Musical%20is%20a%20timeless%20fantasy%20about,gunpoint%2C%20leaving%20Sam%20murdered%20on%20a%20dark%20street. [Accessed 5 January 2023]

The South African, 2022, Heartless! Father begged for mercy as he was brutally shot and killed in front of wife and baby. [Online] Available at: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/heartless-father-begged-for-mercy-as-he-was-brutally-shot-and-killed-in-front-of-baby-and-wife-update-breaking-news-latest/ [Accessed 6 January 2023] 

London theatre, 2023, Ghost the musical. [Online] Available at: https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/reviews/ghost-the-musical [Accessed 6 January 2023] 

The straight dope, unknown, why do singers use vibrato. [Online] Available at: https://www.straightdope.com/21342854/why-do-singers-use-vibrato [Accessed 6 January 2023]